Author: chris eilers

Following HTC’s move when cooperating with Beast Audio to launch headset for its products, Microsoft had teamed up with with Coloud (a Swedish maker of audio accessories) to manufacture and introduce a new headset for Lumia smartphones. Called, Hoop by Colous, this is an in-ear headset created with the aim of attracting users with active life style. In a word, it is built to “handle your favorite workouts.”

Designed by Microsoft, the new device is splash-proof, protected against dust and sweat along with a tangle-free cable. It is covered by a reflective material that helps you stay visible in the dark. An adjustable support loop helps you to keep the earpieces in your ears so keeping you out of distraction from whatever you are doing.

 

The in-ear headphone is said to have a 32 ohm speaker impedance and the ability to produce sound from 20Hz to 20,000 Hz. It weighs 20.5 g and can bear the temperature between -5 and 40 degrees Celcius (or 23 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit) but still operate well. It is also a pretty sensitive headset, too, which means you can play use with your Lumia handset or tablets.

Now, the Europe seems to be the only market where the Hoop by Coloud headset is available at the price of €29. It is offered to customers in 3 different colors: orange, green and black.

Microsoft suggests using the Hoop by Coloud on the new Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL (other Lumia smartphones are still compatible).

Look at the 3 variants here. Are you interested in buying it for your Lumia?

Asus’s fans in mainland China yesterday had had a good news to hear that 3 version of the flagship killers Asus Zenfone 2 was released at the price ranging from CNY 1,299 (RM 766) to CNY 1,999 (RM 1,179).

The Asus Zenfone 2 is making its way to be a global device that everyone, fans or anti-fans, seems to be waiting for it. Up to now, the phone was just officially released in Taiwan and now, we get another official market, even bigger, the mainland China.

Asus Zenfone 2 Specs and Price

Three version for China have been released. At entry level, there is a model pricing CNY 1,299 (RM 766) with 5.5 inches fHD screen display, 1.8 GHz Z3560 CPU and 16GB of internal memory expandable with microSD card. The next version is in mid-range class. This mid-range Asus Zenfone 2 has the same 1.8GHz chipset but 4GB RAM and 32GB internal memory costing CNY 1,699 (RM 1,004). Last but not least, the most high-end Asus Zenfone 2 is 64GB model, which costs CNY 1,999, which is equivalent to RM 1,179. All three of them have a 13MP rear camera capable of 4K video recording and a 5MP front-facing camera.

Unlike everyone’s thought, Asus is not going to offer its customers a 5-inch edition of this flagship. This makes sense because smartphone users in mainland China do prefer large devices. In addition, at this price range and 5.5-inch screen, Asus Zenfone 2 can be a potential opponent of smartphones made by Xiaomi and Meizu.

China market is the homeland of Asus Zenfone so the when it comes to other markets, prices are certainly different. As we guess, Asus Zenfone 2 price in Malaysia will range from RM 900 to RM 1200. This is a hot price for such a flagship killer like the Asus Zenfone 2.

Read Also:

Asus Zenfone 2 versus Xiaomi Note Review 

Asus Zenfone 2 is proof that all other phones are too pricey

Asus Zenfone 2 Specs Comparison

March is coming to the end and the GST (Goods and Services Tax) is spitting distance. And we all notice that a lot of the electronic and technical devices and their related accessories, which we know and love, are going to get a price rise starting from April 1st.

So far, no companies and corporations have confirmed a thing about the upcoming price hike and most have their tounge tied about the specifics involving the 6% GST tax, especially when the tax will be applied on each device giving them an increase in price.

Nearly all technical devices are listed. Take a look at the list!!

The items that will be affected by GST are as follows:

General electronics:

• All smartphones and handsets
• Tablets
• Smartwatches
• Wearable tech like smartbands
• Samsung Gear VR
• Laptops and Notebooks
• Stylus pens
• Smartphone cases
• Tablet cases
• Computer mouse
• Headphones
• Earphones
• Chargers
• Screen protectors
• Monitors
• RAM
• External Storage
• Internal Storage
• CPU
• GPU
• Keyboards
• Motherboards
• Bluray players
• Media players
• DVD players
• CDs
• TVs (all sizes)
• All battery types (smartphone, laptop, tablet)
• GPS
• Printers
• Laptop bags
• Bluetooth headsets
• Radio
• Mp3 player
• Prepaid topups
• Postpaid bill
• All online payment transaction types

Others:

• Adaptors
• CD holders
• CD containers
• Clocks
• Electronic lighters
• Cable adaptors
• All remote controls
• Batteries
• Battery clips
• Battery holders
• Electronic security door
• Electric stove
• All electrical cables
• Torchlights
• Flourescent lights
• International adaptors
• Bicycle bells
• Lightbulbs
• Calculators
• Compass
• Table Lamp
• Printer cartridge
• Remote control helicopter
• Game console
• Car charger

However, not all goods or services will be taxed according to the unveiling from national budget. Those two services below are GST exempted.

GST exempted

• Roaming (data and voice)
• Telephone calls

 

Check out these phone before GST!!!

Meizu M1 Note Dual SIM 16GB LTE Blue (NEW ARRIVAL) => RM 699:http://ow.ly/KLxLQ

Meizu MX4 4G LTE 16GB (NEW ARRIVAL) => RM 1,088: http://ow.ly/KLyTV

Huawei Honor 6 16GB White => RM 999: http://ow.ly/KLxXE

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G 8GB White => RM 589: http://ow.ly/KLw3W

Some hidden test has been taken by Xiaomi for the next generation of Xiaomi phone simply names XIAOMI FERRARI. Most likely Xiaomi will announce this mid-range Flagship End of this month on 31 March. This means that users get more choice with the amazing Galaxy Note Alternatives Mi Note and Note Pro and now a cheaper Xiaomi Ferrari.

This morning, the company had been back to the light when announcing the $320 version of its famous MiTV2 in China. Another product had been unveiled in the event also. A test result found on Geekbench revealed the performance of the phone.

The name we saw on the test is Xiaomi Ferrari. As often, the word “Ferrari” reminds people of red cars, so with this name, Xiaomi’s fans are expecting for a device of the Redmi series.

Showed in the benchmark listings, the Xiaomi Ferrari must be a powerful handset at mid-range level. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC with octa-core 1.65 GHz CPU coming along with 2 GB RAM, the smartphone comes with a 4.9-inch touchscreen display of 1080×1920 pixel resolution, this is nearly the top of the line.

 

At the back, it has a 12MP rear camera which is capable of recording Full HD video along with HDR. At the front will be a 5MP camera and the phone has bunch of sensors that can undertake plenty of modes. Xiaomi Ferrari will run MIUI based on the latest Android 5.0.2 Lollipop.

The size of the display is said to be  4.9 inches, making it a little bit larger than the current Redmi 2, but still smaller than the Redmi Note. The design of this device is now still a mystery for all Xiaomi’s fans but it seems like everyone is waiting for the next wave of shocking news from the Chinese manufacturer.

Xiaomi is expected to launch this Xiaomi Ferrari and more products like the Xiaomi Smart Watch End of this Month at the 31 of March. Will a 4.9-inch screen, SD615 powered Xiaomi phone amaze you?

More Xiaomi News

Xiaomi Mi Note Hands On Review 

New Xiaomi E4 is a much cheaper Mi4 Edition 

Xiaomi Mi Note Pro vs Galaxy Note 4

Hands on with Xiaomi Mi Note Bamboo Edition

Launched by Samsung in Setember 2011, the original Galaxy Note was considered as an impractical combination between tablet and phone.with 5.3 inches screen, the first Samsung Galaxy Note was a really big phone in comoarison with other high-end devices of 2011, since most of them just had screen size of around 4 inches. However, the Galaxy Note is still a success of Samsung up to now with tens of millions of units sold worldwide.
Since the first generation was released, Samsung has launched other 5 version of Note smartphones (including Note II, Note 3, Note 3 Neo, Note 4 and Note Edge) as well as 4 Note tablets (including Note 10.1, Note 8.0, Note 10.1 2014 Edition and Note Pro 12.2). All units have Samsung’s S Pen Stylus, which is the highlight of the Note series.

As usual, when certain types of new products become widely used, the halo of the Samsung Galaxy Note had inspired other manufacturers to create similar products. This article is not about no-name Galaxy Note clone, but about the Note from big companies. We mention here in chronological order.

1. Asus Fonepad Note 6

Published in June 2013, Asus Fonepad Note 6 is the first Note not to be produced by Samsung. It’s a 6-inch-screen (1080 x 1920 pixels) Android device that has its own stylus pen, complemented by a SuperNote app. Besides being powered by a dual-core 2 GHz Intel Atom Z2580 processor, the Asus Fonepad Note 6 further features dual front-facing speakers, an 8 MP rear camera, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal memory that can be expanded. Last but least, it can make phone calls, too.

2. Asus VivoTab Note 8

This is Asus’ second Note: the VivoTab Note 8, which runs on Windows 8.1. This device has a stylus pen too, however it‘s a tablet not a phablet so it can’t make phone calls. The tablet has an Intel processor inside (a quad-core Atom Z3740 clocked at 1.8 GHz), while also featuring an 8-inch display (800 x 1280 pixels), a 5 MP rear camera, an 1.2 MP front-facing shooter, 2 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of expandable storage space.

3. Xiaomi Redmi Note

Released in the first half of 2014, the Xiaomi Redmi Note was Xiaomi’s first extra-affordable smartphone to feature a screen display larger than 5 inches (5.5 inches with 720 x 1280 pixels, to be exact). Though it doesn’t have a stylus, the Redmi Note is definitely Xiaomi’s attempt to allure customers who may pay more attention to Samsung’s Galaxy Note series but were unwilling to pay so much money. With prices starting at around $130, the Redmi Note helped Xiaomi sell more smartphones than Samsung in China in 2014.

4. Xiaomi Mi Note and Mi Note Pro

While the Redmi Note is an average-end handset at cheap prices, the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro are both high-end smartphones, and yet they’re still cheaper than Samsung’s latest Galaxy Notes (Note 4 and Note Edge). Both the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro were announced in Jan 2015, and are currently available only in China. With just $370 for the Mi Note, you will get 5.7-inch, 1080p LCD screen, a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 with 3GB of RAM – nearly top of the line specs – smartphone, a 13 MP rear camera, and a 4 MP front-facing camera. Meanwhile, with $530, the Mi Note Pro is offered a 5.7-inch, 1440 x 2560 pixels display, an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, and 4 GB of RAM, a 13MP main camera, a 4MP front camera and a 3,000mAh battery. No other than the Redmi Note, the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro both don’t have stylus pens.

5. Meizu M1 Note

This Meizu phone is the newest Note to be launched in the world, and is already available in China, where it costs about $160. At this low price, the M1 Notehas made a bang in the smartphone industry when offering it a 5.5-inch 1080p Sharp IGZOdisplay, 4G LTE, a 13 MP rear camera, 5 MP front-facing camera, 2 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of internal memory. The smartphone has two variants, one powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor, and the other that uses an octa-core MediaTek MT6752 CPU. Hopefully, this M1 Note will be sold globally soon at the price of around $200.

When the Xiaomi Mi4 launched last year in September we were all mighty impressed. After all the Mi4 features the Snapadragon 801, 3GB of RAM and a very high quality 13MP CAM. The Xiaomi Mi4 was Xiaomi’s flagship till the recent Mi Note Launch. But even with the larger Xiaomi Mi Note Alternative the Mi4 stays really affordable with 1999Yuan in China. If you still think this price is too high, Xiaomi has a solution for you with the new and cheaper Xiaomi E4. The Xiaomi Mi4 just passed Certification in China by TENAA (SIRIM or FCC US). The E4 comes with 2GB of RAM instead of 3GB RAM. All other specs are identical to the Mi4. The E4 will be sold in China in three different variants with support for FDD and TDD-LTE. In terms of Xiaomi E4 Pricing we can expect a price of very much under the 300USD of the MI4. This would make a lot of sense for Xiaomi to launch a device that is priced under MI4 and Note Series, but still offers very good and high specs for 2015. Xiaomi did not announce the exact pricing yet though. How much would you pay for the new Xiaomi E4, essentially a Xiaomi Mi4 with just 2GB RAM and a much better price tag? Let us know in the votes and check our Xiaomi Mi4 Articles.

[socialpoll id=”2260230″]

LeTV is said to have enter the crowded smartphone market with at least two new high-end devices. We have already seen the specs of both the LeTV X900 and X600 models and they are both on top of the line. However, what makes us most surprised is not the great specs but the spectacular design of the phone.

Plenty of leaks of the bezel-less design on the new LeTV phone have been pulled out and today, some people from Weibo decided to make the full description of the upcoming LeTV smartphones from the information received till now.

Nevertheless, let us remind you that these are just renders. We must wait till we see the final product being come out (probably in April) before we can truly confirm that the LeTV phone is bezelless.

Pretty as it is, a truly bezelless smartphone doesn’t seem very real for reasons. Drop it on the side, and the screen may go out! Hold it al little tigher, and your palm will cover the display and  leave the screen with numerous fingerprints. But if you absolutely hate screen bezels, the LeTV is a smartchoice for you.

As mentioned, a few days ago, the specs of both models had been leaked. The LeTV X900 is said to feature a Snapdragon 810 processor with 4GB RAM and 2K display. At the back, a 20.7 MP camera is included while up front, there’s a 4 Ultrapixel shooter.

As for the X600, the phone will run on a 64-bit octa-core MT6795 processor with 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and 5.5 inches 1080p display screen. Main camera of this device is of 13 MP while front camera is of 8MP. A new innovation on this phone is that it feartures a Type C USB port, which some may know from the new Macbook.

If the real LeTV smartphone has something in common with these rendors, we are in for an absolute treat. Its design is much prettier than most of the smartphone designs that we have seen lately and the powerful specs further reensure its own attraction.

So, how do you think about these renders? Like it or not?

 

Last Friday, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado placed a 12-year old girl at the Boulder Juvenile Center after being accused of two counts of attempted first degree murder.

After a two week of investigation, the police believed that the pre-teen had twice tried to poison her mom because the mother had taken her daughter’s iPhone away as a punishment. The first attempt was that she  put bleach into a smoothie that the mother started drinking. Luckily, the mother noticed of the bleach smell which she could recodnised by poor rinsing mark of the glass by her daughter. When the mother was once again aware of a bleach smell, but this time the smell was a breeze wafting out from a water carafe.

After 2 poisoning attempts, the mother spoke to her daughter who admitted that she was trying to kill her mom because her mother had taken away her iPhone. The mother did feel sick after the first time with the smoothie, the feeling finally passed. No poison was swallowed in the second poisoning attempt as she didn’t drink anything offered to her by her daughter.

Boulder resident Luciana Cordova, who has taken her teenagers’ phones away as a punishment, speak her mind about this issue.”I have two teenagers that, I think as most teenagers this age, are kind of addicted to their phones,” Cordova told a local news team. “I have done it on occasion and luckily they have reacted well about it.”

Xiaomi, a Chinese original equipment manufacturer, is now well-known for producing high-end devices with new technology, cool designs for just half of the price in comparison with other world famous producers, such as Apple, Samsung, HTC,etc. Fans all arounf the world are waiting for the upcoming generation of low-price but high-quality devices from Xiaomi.

Recently, a staff who works for the largest carrier in the world, China Mobile, has just spilled the beans on his Weibo account relating to Xiaomi’s next budget-friendly handset. And not only the specs of this new phone, this man also revealed a picture of the device that he has had for a while.

According to the China Mobile executive, this device will feature a 4.7-inch screen with a resolution of 720 x 1280. The handset will run on a quad-core Lead Core LCI LC1860C CPU (said to be five times faster) with the Mali T628 GPU crunching graphics. 1GB of RAM is inside and there is 8GB of internal storage. Despite having a low-price, a 13M camera is pinned on the nack of the phone and it supporst 4G LTE Cat.4 which allows a maximum download speed of 150Mbps. Previous rumor has it that this model just has a 2MP front-facing camera, microSD slot and Android 4.4.4 pre-installed.

While we are all concerned about the price pricing, we have to turn to another executive. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun recently said that the company would not release a phonewhich costs as low as $64 USD. So we do have the ability to predict how much this model will cost. But that we can’t do now is to guess the exact period for the unveiling of this handset, or the official name of it.

We have seen many leading smartphone manufacturers applying bamboo to their products. Now, Xiaomi has followed this trend to use bamboo for its latest launched device, the Xiaomi Mi Note.

Though having some issue, Xiaomi Mi Note is still one of the most impressive phone in 2015 so far. The company has just made it even more attractive with the bamboo version.

This version was released in China on March 17^th. Surprisingly, this special edition doesn’t cost more than the regular version. It will cost you CNY 2,299, which is equivalent to $370. Of course, with a bamboo cover, the device is 5g lighter. Other than a bamboo cover, the bamboo version remains the same spec as the original one, such as a 5.7-inch, 1080p LCD screen, a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 with 3GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera with OIS, a 4MP front camera running on MIUI 6, Xiaomi’s Android ROM and a 3,000mAh battery.

Xiaomi didn’t mention if it intend to build a bamboo version for Xiaomi Mi Note Pro or not. For now, we even don’t know whether either the Mi Note or the Mi Note Pro will be launched worldwide as well.

One thing for sure that the new Mi Note Bamboo Edition is available for pre-order in the China region now and will be on sale from March 24.

Users in Malaysia have been waiting for the OnePlus One for so long as the device should have been sold here by the end of 2014. After a long irritating wait, OnePlus has apologized to its fans and assured that the Malaysian market had the company’s commitment.

One positive way out of this issue appointing one local partner which will totally help to set up. Now, it appears that Oneplus has just found one, the Brightstar, as Brightstar had just certified the 2014 flagship killer under SIRIM.

Through this official distributing channel, OnePlus can spread its products widely over Malaysian boundary, unless they choose to sell online through selected channels. Detailed information hasn’t been revealed yet, so we don’t know which model will be available in this market, and the price may be rising when it actually goes on sale due to the exchange rate. Just a few days ago, OnePlus published an increase of £30-50 for the European market while the international price for the device is $299 (or RM1,111)  for 16GB and US$349 (or RM1,297) for the 64GB version.

In short, the OnePlus One features a 5.5 inches Full HD 1080p screen display running on a 2.5GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM. There is a 13MP Sony IMX214 camera with 6 element f/2.0 lens on the back of the device and on the front is a 5MP camera to deal with selfie-purposed and video calls. While the spec feel similar to OPPO Find 7, the battery is non-removable and a little bit larger in capacity with 3,100mAh. The device is 8.9mm thick and weighs 162g. As for the software, OnePlus promises to introduce Android 5.0 Lollipop by this month which is available for both Cynanogen and Oxygen OS version.

OnePlus One SIRIM Certification

In response to Avengers-themed versions of the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung just mentions that it is still considering choices. The phones will be offered in limited edition alternate and the company will sell matching cases together with the device to boost sales.

This is not the first time this giant Korean corporation, Samsung and Marvel cojoin in a project. Samsung had its products appear in the Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Utron trailer before and announced to work on Samsung S Pen Penvatars – Avengers-themed avatars for the Samsung Galaxy Note line. So, if Samsung is going to make a line of phones based on Marvel’s heroes, it is as plain as day. However, appointing a high-end product like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge to this circumstance may rebound. This may be the reason why Samsung is still procrastinating to make the final decision.

Check out the Avengers concept below!!

The Captain America concept look the most gorgeous to us. What do you think? Which one do you prefer?